James The Young Brown Pelican by Bob Kranich
(Excerpt 1)
This is a new story. We are first introduced to James the young Brown pelican, and a young fellow who is sketching him on the docks of Key West.
Perched on a dock piling, resting yet irritated, was James. This young brown pelican had ‘had enough’ to put it in layman’s terms. James had become very tired and bored early this morning flying in a straight line with a number of other young pelicans. After all, they were his peers, 3 year olds, just another year from being full-fledged adults. It seemed though that that was all they wanted to do. Their days were filled with flying along the tops of the waves looking for fish-food. It was very dull and he was not interested in the least!
When he got hungry, he liked to go out a little farther into the Atlantic Ocean away from the Key West shore. Then he would catch the thermals of the ocean and soar. Since he was just three years old, his breast muscles and wings needed a little more time to develop and strengthen. He naturally couldn’t soar to the record-breaking heights of 10,000 feet like some pelicans he heard had done. Nevertheless, that was one of his desires.
He was satisfied with a couple of thousand feet altitude, and at that height he could soar and glide to his heart’s content. He would then come down, fly very low, and skim over the water very fast, exerting very little energy. He could do this because as the air that flowed between the water and his wings compressed, it created lift. This was called “ground effect” and saved him a lot of work as he flew right above the waves. It was exhilarating!
This piling next to the Key West city docks was Jacob’s favorite. He liked to perch there and look at the strange two-legged human beings. They had no wings. He felt sorry for them. Humans had to use objects with two or four round things to move in a hurry. They couldn’t go in a straight line like he could and couldn’t even go over anything, only around. Yes, he surely felt sorry for them.
Today he was enjoying the sun and a faint breeze here on his piling. What was that? Here came a human on a two-round thing. It appeared to be a young male. He was stopping...I had better keep an eye on him, James thought. Occasionally, very small people had thrown rocks at him, even though pelicans are a protected bird.
The human parked his two-rounder. He took something flat out of the front basket, turned a couple of pages and then sat down. The person kept looking up at James and then down to the white paper in his hands. He would move something around which made marks. Maybe he is capturing my image...Jacob surmised. If that is what he’s doing, James thought, I will straighten up and look very “Pelican”! James had never sat for an artist. But he had seen artists before looking at buildings and sunsets.
The human got up and went over to the two-round thing. James figured that the person was finished and leaving.
“I sure would like to see my image,” he said to himself.
From the Author:
This is a Christian book about faith and you will learn more about the life of pelicans. Since the Brown pelican is found along both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, you will also learn about the pelican’s life in the Florida Keys and Key West itself.
The book is illustrated by watercolors, sketches, and photos, to include many photos by the great nature photographer, Ron Reznick.
The book is illustrated by watercolors, sketches, and photos, to include many photos by the great nature photographer, Ron Reznick.
